Negativity Associated With Employing Deaf People

When searching for any information about employing individuals or seeking for employment, regardless of whether the seeker is an employee or employer, almost all available information online is negative or critical. Perhaps this has a lot to do with the attitude or approach people take when talking about the unemployment rate within the community? When people are looking for jobs, they often come up with a reason why they aren't getting hired.
I'm too fat. I'm not pretty enough. They didn't like my tattoos. I'm disfigured. I have too many bald spots.

Often, people who are writing about employment, one of the biggest things that is mentioned is: "is XYZ entitled to sue because they didn't get the job?" There are so many underlying reasons why people don't get the job and even if they did sue, most companies would simply get a slap on the wrist because it's very difficult to prove that the employer discriminated. This is especially true when employers had hired somebody much more qualified than XYZ. Instead of focusing on the issue being about discrimination, focus on the idea that perhaps something went wrong during the interview. Here are a few examples of the truth behind why people are not getting jobs, Deaf or not.

Here are some common issues with resumes or applications:

The applicant:

- did not fill out their application correctly or completely
- hours asked for are too limiting and don't meet minimum hours needed by employer
- did not list off all skills required for job
- does not have enough educational background
- left a number of spelling and grammatical errors on their resume or cover letter
- did not include a cover letter when requested
- did not include references when requested
- does not meet basic requirements of job listing
- hadn't included "keywords" that are used to filter out their resume

Here are some common issues with interviews -

The interviewee:

- made zero eye contact
- did not smile or look comfortable during interview
- did not respond to questions appropriately
- did not show excitement or motivation about the job being discussed
- was unable to demonstrate knowledge critical for job
- showed up dressing below standards expected of employees
- had substandard clothing, for example, holes or vulgar language displayed on clothing
- had zero questions for the interviewer

Having no questions for the interviewer is a death trap. An interviewee can have a picture perfect interview with everything shifting into their favor over every single interviewee that has come through those dreaded doors, however not asking any questions throws their chances down the drain. If an interviewee goes into an interview and has no questions, they don't care enough to find out more information about the workplace. There are always questions that should be asked. Pay attention to what is said, don't ask questions that have been answered during the interview. So, when somebody asks, "do you have any questions?" always be prepared to say yes and ask something even if it might be redundant. It is vital to show interest in the company as a whole.

These issues are among many other things but it is always possible to show up and answer things in a perfect fashion and be fully accessible and still not get the job. Here are some common reasons why people do not get jobs even when they deliver a picture perfect resume and interview.

- the person that was hired is far more qualified than the interviewee
- the interviewee did not fit the culture of the company as well as the hired person
- hired person has a stronger network than the interviewee

These are real reasons why people aren't given jobs. As many people don't realize, the final push to hire may be somebody from their network. With that said, it is very important to utilize networking resources and tools in finding jobs. Remember this:

"It's not what you know, it's who you know."

and this

"If you don't know why you didn't get hired, be sure to ask why."

When you find out why somebody else got the job, be polite about it and do not burn any bridges in the process. It's very important to utilize every resource and contact possible. In some cases, if the interviewee maintains a positive relationship after the interview and being declined for valid reasons, the interviewer might be inclined to help in seeking chances for employment.